


The Hunter Sings a Lullaby

by Rednaelo



Series: The Hunter Sings [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Rescue Bots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, First Time, Fluff and Smut, Illustrated, M/M, a whole new take on mutual masturbation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-09
Updated: 2015-08-09
Packaged: 2018-04-13 18:42:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4533039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rednaelo/pseuds/Rednaelo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The very first synchronization between Kade and Heatwave was awful, as it was for every member of the Burns family and their respective bot companions.  Kade would forever claim that his was the worst, though.  It took a good few months for Kade to realize that Heatwave would probably say the same thing, if he could speak to anyone else, that is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hunter Sings a Lullaby

**Author's Note:**

> Here is a gift that is just a couple dozen pages of me kicking my muse's ass around to try and get back into the swing of things. It's very loosely inspired by the concepts of Pacific Rim but I twisted things around a little to suit me. Not everything will be explained in this fic bc I'm using it as my muse-kicking project so there will inevitably be sequels and prequels. Uh, here you go, have an otp you didn't know I had. 
> 
> Also please click on the in-text links to see the super gorgeous illustrations my [girlfriend](http://senatorsh0ckwave.tumblr.com) did for this story. <3 You'll be glad you did.
> 
> Love and thanks.
> 
> -Bec

At nighttime, the hangar was empty of all the mechanics and bioengineers and reporters doing their press pieces that were always the same, no matter what news network was holding the cameras.  Kade, like the rest of his family, already spent most of his downtime in the hangar.  And at three-thirty in the morning, wearing his rattiest pair of sweatpants that were falling off his hips and nursing the last dregs of coffee in his ‘Fuck Mondays’ mug, Kade walked barefooted from his bunker to Dock One. 

He slurped the last bit of lukewarm coffee from his mug and then set it on the docking computer, something he had been admonished for by the bioengineering team for years.  It had never broken him of the habit. The computer had a flat surface: it was good enough for him to put his mug on.  He entered the stasis break commands into the console without even looking and then slumped over to the lift.

Startup noises whirred and locks disengaged.  The lift pressurized and Kade rose up to Heatwave’s cockpit, watching those dormant optics light up bright amber and steadily begin to focus.   By the time he was climbing into the seat, the warm, steady thrum of Heatwave’s spark was resonating.

“Mornin’, Big Guy,” Kade said as the cockpit sealed and the dashboard lit up bit by bit.  Kade smirked and gave one of the joysticks a little pat.  “C’mon, sleepin’ beauty, time to get to work.  Up and at ‘em.  Ouch!”

The tap prodded Kade hard in the back of the neck.  In front of him, the windshield HUD flashed with lines of Sikari Code.  Kade scowled a little but it didn’t do much to actually dampen his smile.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll try and make sure you get more of a warning next time, princess,” he said as he keyed in to the dash console and pulled down the visor.  The tap pressed forward again, Kade’s hands reaching behind his head to help guide it into the neural port at the base of his skull.

The very first synchronization between Kade and Heatwave was awful, as it was for every member of the Burns family and their respective bot companions.  Kade would forever claim that his was the worst, though.  It took a good few months for Kade to realize that Heatwave would probably say the same thing, if he could speak to anyone else, that is.

Nowadays, Kade was so comfortable with the synch that disengaging from it felt like losing an arm or something.  The instant that Heatwave’s consciousness flooded his own and Kade’s mind expanded to encompass the whole of his companion, there was now nothing but a sense of rightness.  Of completion.

_Any reason you’re engaging me five whole hours before scramble?_

Amusement – joy – flowed up and found itself chased by a bit of exasperation: their two senses twining and responding to one another as smoothly as verses in a song.

“Can’t sleep,” Kade said as he settled back against the headrest and let his eyes close.  He pushed for the camera feeds and drew Heatwave’s focus to the internal video where he could see Kade from six different angles.

_So you had to go ahead and wake me up because you couldn’t bother to lay off the coffee._

“I got something to talk to you about too.”

_That couldn’t wait until morning?_

“Well, sure, but I’m awake now, and so are you.”

Kade genuinely laughed aloud as he felt the metal around him sag in a very deliberate sigh.

_You’re gonna get chewed out for engaging me without the engineers again._

“Hey, I know what I’m doing.  You’re fine.  And we’re not even going anywhere, we’re just chillin’.  It’s fine, they’re all gonna be fine.”

Kade wrapped his hands around the joysticks, rubbing his fingers against the grooves and taking a few deep breaths.  Heatwave’s chassis shifted and breathed with him.  The ventilation cycles processed the oxygen and it gusted coolly against Kade’s bare chest as he relaxed, thumbing at the buttons on the joysticks.  There was a nudge and a bump against Kade’s side as he felt the panels of his seat press against him. 

_So what was it that you wanted to tell me._

“Oh, right,” Kade grinned a little and pulled up the specs of Doc Greene’s new project on the HUD of his visor.  “Check out this code.”

Reading Sikari Code with Heatwave’s comprehension was a fascinating experience.  One that Kade would probably never admit that he enjoyed, but it wasn’t like he could hide that fact from Heatwave.  Couldn’t hide anything from a synchronized consciousness.  He flew over the coding with Heatwave like hummingbirds darting back and forth, gathering nectar.  It was so easy to understand, so simplistic and expedient.  In just a few seconds, together they had parsed the entire program by reading the base coding alone.

_This is a networked communication program._

“Mmh-hmm.”

_This will work while we’re offline….  You’re going to let us be together?_

“’Bout time, right?”  Kade grinned hard as he felt the swell of Heatwave’s elation well up.  The code was rescanned just to make sure they were reading it right.  “This is gonna be installed later today after they finish the final beta testing.”

_...Blades is going to be excited.  I probably won’t hear the end of it for the next three years._

“That bad?”

_Look, just because we only get to communicate through you humans doesn’t mean I can’t get a good read on my own teammate. Dani’s told you how clingy he is, I know she has._

“But to you?”

_I’m the leader._

“Uh, pretty sure Dad’s the leader, Big Guy.”

_He’s the leader of your family.  I’m the leader of mine._

Kade blinked a little.  His confusion stretched out through Heatwave’s consciousness, looking for link connections and applying their combined reasoning. 

“What makes you say that, huh?”  Kade pushed through the datafiles, the knowledge, the programming, the life experience that made up Heatwave.  Priority lists, both constructed and rearranged.  The infrastructure of personal integrity….

_You can’t possibly be that stupid.  Oh, wait, I can see it plain for myself: hurr, durr, I’m Kade Burns and all I care about are nachos and mammary glands._

“Dude, if that were the case, you’d be a lot more fun to hang around.  You got something from me that was more than just my excellent taste.”

_Thank god for that._

“Why would a robot believe in God….”

_My bad; next time I’ll make sure to come up with something more suited to your sci-fi fantasies._

Heatwave gave Kade the mental equivalent of a shove to the face, leaving the human spluttering and reeling from the strange shock. The bot’s giddiness chased after it like a child reaching for fluttering kite ribbons.

“Not funny, dude.”

Kade leaned back and hiked up his knee to push his foot against the dash console.

“Seriously, though, what makes you think you’re the leader of the team and not Chase?”

_As far as I knew, none of your superiors or any of the engineers decided that there was actually any hierarchy among us bots.  Only you humans.  It was your own decision that we would be ranked the same as you are._

“So then…how did you end up being the leader?”

_It’s in me.  They trust me and know that I’m going to make the best decisions for us all._

Kade couldn’t really keep down the soft swell of pride he felt.  It rose in tandem with Heatwave’s feelings of confidence and contentedness.

“Well, look at you, Big Guy…. Looks like I did you a favor then, after all, huh?  That was what you were trying to say earlier, yeah?  It’s all ‘cause of me that you got the _cahones_ to be the papa of your robot posse.”

 _You can only take so much credit, Kade Burns,_ Heatwave reminded him. _You were an initiator but I developed beyond that on my own._

“I was there the whole time, you know,” Kade reminded right back. 

_Only because you had to be._

“Exactly.”

There was a rattling knock against the back of Kade’s head, clearly his companion scoffing.

_At least I can parse the sense of self-important vanity apart from an actual conviction to serve and protect._

“And that’s all you really need, bro.  I know you’re good leader material because I got it too.”

_Gee, thanks so much…._

“You’re fuckin’ welcome.  Now let’s watch some standup on YouTube.  I found these guys – you’re gonna laugh your ass off.”

_Nice to know you’re gonna use my universal satellite feed to watch…Key and Peele?_

“You’ll love ‘em.”

* * *

 It wasn’t an unheard of possibility – that a pilot would fall asleep still synched – but it hadn’t been tested in the Griffin Rock Facilities.  Not formally.  And Kade woke up from dreaming with Heatwave about two hours before dawn, morning wood straining the front of his sweatpants. Dizziness and warmth ebbed and flowed in tandem and Kade tried tugging the dreamstrands that were still lingering in Heatwave’s consciousness, following them back. 

Sharing a consciousness with Heatwave was so second nature at this point that sometimes it was hard to see where the division between the two of them existed.  One mind, one singular thought flow that could answer itself.  They were dreaming of the new space where the bots could exist together and speak.  Dreaming of what they could build there together.  Dreaming of an end to loneliness and expanding horizons and constant companionship.  Dreaming of things yet to know and yet to discover.  Dreaming of joy.

_I’ve never dreamed before_

Kade flicked up the visor to rub his eyes and wipe drool from the corner of his mouth.

“Whacha think about it?”

_It’s weird.  Processing without being cognizant.  I don’t think I ever want you to do that again.  How am I supposed to learn if I can’t integrate new information properly?_

“Dreams ain’t about learning, Heatwave.  They’re about letting your subconscious scrub itself.  And fantasizing too, I guess.”

_Defragmentation?_

Uncommon words suddenly making sense was another nice quirk of the synchronicity.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

_And what is the matter with your vitals? Your readings on blood pressure are lower than normal. You’re lightheaded._

“’s what happens after you wake up.  Human body has to get working actively again.  It’s just like you, only smaller scale.  I thought you knew stuff like this.”

_Just because I have access to essentially all the information on the planet doesn’t mean I can instantly understand what biological reactions feel like.  Your body is not the body I was born with.  I’m still learning what it’s like to live in it._

Kade stared out into the dark of the cockpit, the dim fluorescent glow of the hangar outside of the plastisteel windshield.  The HUD displays were gently trickling their data transcriptions across the largest screen.  And Kade remembered that all of Heatwave’s data, all their data, was being recorded for research purposes.  He scowled a little, brow furrowing, and tapped into the transcription computer.

 _Why?_   Heatwave asked him as Kade shut down all of the monitoring protocols.

“I don’t actually like Big Brother looking over my shoulder all the time, you know.”

_But that’s Doc Greene’s research data.  It’s not like it gets funneled out of the lab at all.  It all has to go through him first._

“Look, just go with it for now, I wanna try something.”

Kade flicked down his visor again and slipped his fingers gently around the joysticks, pulling them towards him just a bit.  He shunted all thoughts away from his mind as he had learned to do effortlessly over the past couple years.  Heatwave flooded into the open space, filling every blank with his presence and Kade let himself be pulled along until they were both inhabiting human nerves, human skin.

Kade sipped a slow breath inwards, let Heatwave feel how it expanded in his lungs and tipped up his pulse, if only minutely. 

_Any reason we’re camping out here?_

“Yeah, you shitlord, stop talking to me, I’m tryin’a do something.”

Heatwave seemed to retreat a bit but only slipped right back into the space, waiting for Kade to show him whatever it was he was trying to show.

Kade himself started focusing on his fingers, pressing each of them against the joysticks one after the other then relaxing once again.  His arm muscles flexed, his hands gripped, his shoulders rolled.  And steadily, he drew his awareness in a straight line down through his body.  He paused focus at the center of his chest, which felt molten hot inside as soon as he cast his awareness towards it.  It was an unfathomable burning: a slow pulse that seemed all at once to be deeply within and, at the same time, completely surrounding him.  Filled with such resonance that Kade felt like the tips of his ears were hot for some reason.  Heatwave noticed it too, bumping around the thought curiously like a bumblebee around a sudden blossom before buzzing away.  He made no comment on it.

“Whacha feel, buddy?” Kade suddenly asked, his voice soft beneath the hum of Heatwave’s machinery.  As once voice, he was still loud and clear.

_Lots….  Mostly warmth. Alternating tightness and relaxation.  Waves of electricity that are softer than anything.  The impulses that rule your body are ridiculously delicate._

“We’re stronger than we look,” Kade mumbled, grinning a little as his hands slid from the controls and came to rest on his legs.

_Keep telling yourself that._

“Hey, Big Guy…you ever think about sex?”

The question conjured a very sincere image of Heatwave slamming on car brakes.  It was potent enough that Kade could feel where Heatwave had been flowing before suddenly freezing.  And it made the human pilot snort.

_Only when…you have?_

“So never on your own?  You never go poking around online to see what you could find?”

_No, it’s never interested me in the slightest.  It’s a biological function that I don’t have; why would I bother thinking about it?_

“You have every biological function I have when we’re linked up,” Kade said as he bowed his spine and let the vertebrae crack gently.  Heatwave heaved the same sigh Kade did and picked up his flow again, streaming back and forth along his pilot’s limbs in a ghostlike awareness.

_Only the ones that matter. Safe to say that I would never need to know what sex is like because you won’t be having sex while we are synchronized.  It’s like the same reason I don’t have to think about pissing: it’s completely irrelevant._

“You’re not even a little bit curious, then.”

_Where the hell is this coming from, Kade?_

Kade laughed and let his head fall back, eyes opening to let Heatwave peer through them.

“I dunno, man, I got morning wood and it made me wonder if you ever thought about shit like that.”

Heatwave rolled Kade’s eyes and Kade laughed aloud, feeling that warmth in his chest spread and tingle pleasantly.

_No, dipshit, I don’t think about things like that._

“So…are you never going to think about it even now that I’ve brought it up?”

Heatwave sighed in his body and folded Kade’s arms across his chest.

_Is there something you’re trying to ultimately get at here?  Because I’m not following at all. Enlighten me, will you? If you can find enough brain cells to rub together and make it happen._

“Hey, hey, no need for all that sass.”  Kade chuckled and gave his own chest a little rub to get Heatwave to relax a little: muscles held so tight, he was gonna get sore.  “Guess what I’m saying is that if you were ever wondering, I wouldn’t mind filling you in.”

_Thanks for that. I’ll be sure to ask you what taking a dump feels like too since that sounds like such a riveting experience._

“Dude, humans love fucking, it’s just part of the whole experience.  Hell of a lot more fun than dropping a deuce.”

_I’m still failing to see why this would even matter to me._

“C’mon, man, where’s your sense of adventure?  Now I’m doubting it even exists.”

Kade’s hands suddenly flew upwards in exasperation which was all Heatwave and none of his own.

_Here’s the real question: are you ever going to let this go?_

Kade grinned.

“If I say no, are you gonna cave?”

Heatwave growled and Kade could feel it rumble around him.

_You better explain to me what it is I’m apparently agreeing to first._

“I was gonna be all generous and let you experience what it’s like to cum.”

_By masturbating, I’m assuming._

“Yeah, pretty much.”

_You say ‘being generous’ but you’re just being lazy.  You wanna do it but you don’t feel like bothering to disengage and go somewhere on your own._

“Dude, I’m offering you the experience of a lifetime.”

Heatwave twisted and curled slowly around in Kade’s nervous system, touching along pulled muscles and lingering near the scar tissue on his side.

_Is that why you drew me into your body? Were you seducing me with your own sensations?_

Kade grimaced, his eyebrows pushing together awkwardly as an unexpected blush filled his cheeks.  He would’ve done a spit-take if he’d had anything in his mouth.

“S-seducing?” he asked.

 _Well, what else would you call it?_ Heatwave harrumphed.

“Uh…not that!  Experimenting, that’s all!"

_Close enough.  Experimenting with me in your body._

“Oh, god, no, you know what, fuck it, nevermind.”

Exasperation shot right through Kade’s blustered embarrassment and made his heart skip a beat.

_Isn’t that just like Kade Burns: to start shit and then back out when suddenly he examines his behavior and realizes he didn’t actually think before he started acting._

“Fuck you, man, you were the one who went and made it all awkward.”

_Like this wasn’t awkward for me in the first place, jackass._

Kade flicked up his visor again and shooed Heatwave from himself, letting them both flow out to their default of being neither one nor the other and both at once.

“Then just go with what I said and forget I asked,” Kade grumbled and started entering the commands to disengage the neural link.  There was a downward rush of chilling heat in his stomach that felt tight and scalding all at once.  Kade froze, only because he couldn’t figure out what exactly that feeling was supposed to mean.  He had a headache all of a sudden.

“Heatwave?”

 _It didn’t feel bad,_ came the soft deepness in answer.  _We bots don’t physically feel the same way you humans do.  The sensations from your body aren’t unpleasant, for the most part.  But it’s never been my choice to feel them when we synchronize.  It’s never been a choice to feel physical pleasure.  I don’t know how exactly to approach the idea._

Kade’s reaching fingers curled into his palm as he let the decision to disengage float away.  Fuck if he was super invested into ‘teaching a robot how to human’ but with the pressure behind his own temples and feelings of uncertainty, he knew lack of closure would linger and drive him crazy if he broke the link now.  Resolution would help him and Heatwave both in the long run.

“You don’t have to take it seriously,” Kade mumbled, staring up into the shadows of the cockpit.  “I was just dickin’ around.”

Feeling Heatwave laugh around him would never get old.  It was so gentle and rich and jostled Kade just a little bit like he was getting a backrub.

_Sure, you say that now after I’ve already started taking it seriously.  Fuck you, Kade._

“Fuck you too, buddy.”

The pads of the pilot’s seat squeezed around Kade’s body for a moment before easing again.  For a moment there was just the silence and the sounds of Heatwave’s machinery, of spark and heartbeat slipping between each other’s beats.

_If I said I wanted to know, would you let me feel what it was like?_

Kade scratched at his knee with his thumb and tilted his head to one side.

“I mean…yeah, sure.  I already said I would. If you really wanted to know.  Wouldn’t be that big of a deal long as we didn’t make it one.”

_I’m gonna think about it._

Kade gave a soft chuckle and yawned. 

“You do that, Big Guy.  You go right ahead and do that.”

* * *

 Kade got chewed out for loitering in the cockpit and Heatwave couldn’t help but laugh about it as the bioengineers gave him hell for it.  Professor Baranova even put him on day’s suspension to get a hard revision in operating policy and procedure to prevent further incidents.

Of course, everyone knew that no schooling would really make Kade stop.  And they’d find him nestled in Heatwave’s chassis whenever he next felt like sneaking in there.  But it was his own damn fault that he wouldn’t be there for the new cross communication uploading for Heatwave and the rest of the bots.

“Do they need us to be engaged in order for this program to take effect?” Chief Burns was asking Doc Greene as he transferred the program into the Sikari Data Reservoir.

“Not at all,” Greene said, fingers tapping away.  “In fact, the entire point of this program is so that the bots can interact and communicate more autonomously.  Invaluable as you Burnses are to their development and communication, having the ability to communicate freely without you as conduits will be even more important for the bots in their growth.”

Chief Burns looked up at Dock Two where Chase was online and looking back down with his typically stalwart expression affecting an air of curiosity.  Chief grinned affectionately back at him.

“They’ve come so long in only a few years,” he said.  “I do wish we could’ve installed this program sooner.  It feels pretty cruel to not let them speak to each other.”

“They needed your guidance at first,” Greene reminded the chief with a warm smile.  “But, you’re right, they’ve grown past the point of needing it now.  I’m sure this will do a world of good not only for them but for the whole team.”

“I know I’m happy about it!” Dani said as she came jogging over.  She and Blades had docked not half an hour ago.  [She was still in her flight suit, face a bit pink from the mission.](https://36.media.tumblr.com/a7fe4f5ec4b6b5b0ae480d0a469d7c73/tumblr_nst1hpm1Pc1qldo82o2_1280.png)  “Blades was babbling my ears off for the whole exercise!  He can’t wait to tell them all about the movies we’ve watched together.”

“Well, if I understand this code correctly,” Graham said as he approached his family with the ever-present tablet in hand, “the program will actually allow them to watch the movies together if they wanted.  It has a buildable Virtual Reality interface that can let them generate any environment they like.  They can make themselves a movie theater if they wanted.”

“Or make themselves look however they wanted to look,” Doc Greene added.  “It’s a not just a forum for them to chat in.  It’s a whole playground.”

Dani looked about ready to cry; she was smiling so hard.

“ _So_ happy,” she simply said.  And then Cody came barreling in with a huge grin.

“They’re ready, they’re ready!” he said, bouncing on his toes.  “All the bots are engaged and ready to go!”

“Excellent, Cody.  I’ll set the download process to its final gate check,” Doc Greene said as he entered a few more commands.

“It’s too bad Kade’s missing out on this,” Cody said, looking over to where Dock One was supporting Heatwave.  “The data transcripts from their time this morning said that Kade went ahead and showed Heatwave the coding.  He must’ve been excited to tell him about it.”

“I’m sure he’ll be just as excited even after the program is properly uploaded,” Chief said, rubbing his youngest son’s back.

“I just don’t get why he’s not allowed to hang out with Heatwave whenever he likes,” Cody said quietly, mostly thinking aloud.  “I mean…they’re partners, right?  Shouldn’t it be okay for them to spend time together?”

“That’s not the problem, Cody,” Dani told her little brother with a small smile.  “The problem was that not only did Kade not log in his intention to activate Heatwave with the hangar itinerary, he also disabled Doc’s datafeeds at some point.”

“So he got in trouble for that?”

“Those datafeeds are crucial to making sure the bots are learning and developing properly,” Doc Greene explained.  “Professor Baranova and I need that data to make sure they’re safe and healthy.”

“That makes sense,” Cody said with a smile.  “So hopefully Kade won’t do it anymore.  I know he’ll be sad he missed this!”

The Reservoir’s speakers clicked on and a soothing automated voice announced that new program upload would commence shortly.  A progress bar popped onto the screen and steadily began tick up percentage points.

“They’re friends and they’ll finally get to be together whenever they want,” Cody said as the percentage marker hit ten percent.  Dani gave him a hug and Graham looked up at Boulder with a grin that could’ve shattered the earth.

* * *

 It was a bit like a neural synchronization.  Only Heatwave could tell that he could disengage from it any time he liked.  There was no constant presence, no sharing of senses.  But neither was he himself, alone and still in his own body. 

They were all with him.

When the VR generated them in the empty space, they appeared as rather cartoonish avatars of themselves.  Heatwave felt smaller.  If it was possible, he felt simpler.  Moving around was easy and effortless and didn’t actually involve anything but a thought.  Which was good because if Blades had crashed into him like that in real life, they would’ve made a catastrophic mess.

As it was, it was easy to catch the littler bot and swing him around in a circle as he squealed happily.

“Heatwave!!!!” Blades squealed, his arms thrown around Heatwave’s shoulders and his face in Heatwave’s neck.  “Oh my god, you’re here!  You’re here, I’m here, we’re all here!  Boulder!!!”  And then went launching towards him, leaving Heatwave to stand there grinning as Chase approached.

“It is good to see you, Heatwave.  Even in this pointedly adorable caricature of your form, you are looking quite well.”

“Nice to see you too, Chase,” Heatwave said, clapping him on the back.  Boulder and Blades were still hugging and laughing.  Actually, Blades was crying through his smile but that didn’t worry Heatwave in the slightest.  “They said they’d give us the rest of the day to spend time here and test everything out.”

“Indeed,” Chase said as he glanced around what was essentially an empty space.  It wasn’t a room, per se, neither did it have color.  But they could change that if they liked.  “Perhaps we should make the hangar?  It would at least be a familiar place to start.”

“I think that sounds like the best idea,” Boulder said as he approached them, toting a clinging Blades on his hip like some overgrown baby.  “We can come up with other ideas for our virtual environment later!”

“Blades,” Heatwave sighed, “why are you hanging off of Boulder?”

“Because if I hung off of you, you’d probably drop me and my tushie is very sensitive!”

“We’re in virtual space, you dork.”

“All the same!”

All the same, Blades still looked between Heatwave and Chase like he wanted to jump on them and hug them tight even more.

“We’re all here, though,” Boulder said with a smile bright as a supernova.

Chase supplied the infrastructure for their environmental setting and within a matter of seconds they had a familiar simulation of the hangar surrounding them.  Empty, save for the four of them together.  No need to worry about accidentally stepping on any of their humans.

“If it’s virtual reality, can it simulate our sense of touch?” Blades asked aloud.

“Well, can you _feel_ Boulder holding onto you?” Heatwave asked him as he leaned against the docking wall.

Blades blinked a little and then glanced at Boulder, who was still gently carrying him with a soft smile.

“Yeah, I can feel that,” Blades said, optics sparkling fluorescent.  “You’re really warm!”

“So are you,” Boulder said with a grin.

“Shoulda known the first thing you two would do is cling to each other,” Heatwave said with a smirk.  Chase stood between them and watched quietly, his optics focused with the sort of concentration that said there was a lot going on in that processor that Heatwave wasn’t seeing.  His smile softened a bit.  “You know, if you wanted to hug them too, I’m pretty sure neither of them would have a problem with it,” he said to Chase.  The blue mech glanced back at Heatwave and then towards Blades and Boulder who were eagerly waving him over.

“Group hug, Heatwave!” Blades insisted as he wrapped an arm around Chase.

“Just this once,” Boulder qualified diplomatically.  “We don’t have to make it a habit: just for this first chance, okay?”

Heatwave watched as Chase snuggled himself against the other two bots.  They had been Turing Test confirmed for five years, inhabitants of their mechanized forms for four years, personality invoked for three and it was only now that they actually got to touch and experience each other closely and familiarly as they had seen their human companions do so.

Heatwave went to hug his family and didn’t let go for quite a while.

* * *

 “My core components are _Delight_ and _Trepidation_.  Dani says it makes me hard to work with sometimes but she’s always smiling when the link takes so I think that’s a good sign.”  Blades smiled and wrapped his arms around his knees, hugging them to himself.  “She’s my best friend. She says she loves me. It makes me so happy!”

“Wow, Blades, that sounds so nice,” Boulder said, smiling sweetly as ever.

Heatwave shifted in his lean against the wall where the four of them sat in a little circle.  Blades with his knees tucked under his chin, Boulder with his rather large feet stretched out in front of him, Chase cross-legged with his hands folded in his lap.  His little mishmashed family all together and learning what they couldn’t really tell each other before now.  The rest of the day wouldn’t be enough time to catch up on everything that had been left unsaid for years.  But the good thing was that they had the rest of their lives to play catchup. 

“What about you, Boulder? What did Graham give to you?” Blades asked him.

Boulder’s optics closed and he smiled as if the action helped him recall the specific memories of his invocation.

“ _Wonder_.  And _Hope_.  Graham took to the synchronization so well and was in such awe for the first few times.  It was hard for us to focus for a long time!  He’s very encouraging.  He praises me when I do well and teaches me so many things.”

“I’ve had quite a similar experience with the Chief,” Chase said as he rubbed at his chin thoughtfully.  “Charles Burns is a supportive and helpful companion to have.  And through him I have gained a thorough appreciation of our nation’s law enforcement protocols.”

“Oh, right, Chief was actually a _police_ chief before they partnered with us, wasn’t he?” Boulder said.

“Indeed,” Chase said with a nod.  “Which I theorize is why I was imbued with _Duty_ and _Diligence_ upon invocation.  Chief values those qualities very much.  I feel his pride in me and it makes me want to be better than he ever expected me to be.”

“Me too! Me too!” Blades chirped with a little wiggle.  “It feels nice when they believe in you, doesn’t it?”

“Very nice,” Boulder agreed.  “You think so too, right Heatwave?  Kade’s with you so much, he must be really happy around you.”

Heatwave laughed at that, his smile curling into something bittersweet.

“You think so, huh?”

“Why else would he keep breaking the rules just to spend time with you?” Blades said, rocking a little where he sat.

“He could see me just fine if he followed protocol, too,” Heatwave said.  “He’s just a lazy ass.”

Silence fell heavy on the small company and they all stared at Heatwave like he’d just blasphemed.

“A— Are you saying you don’t even like him?” Boulder asked, a sincere sadness buoying his words.

“Kade’s Kade,” Heatwave explained with a shrug.  “Can’t live with him, can’t live without him.  It’s just the way he is.  I’m sure all of your companions have given you stories about mine.”

Blade’s optics lit up as if that suddenly explained everything.

“Oh, right!  Dani told me about how her seventh birthday party got ruined because Kade ate her entire cake before she even got to have one piece!” he said.

“I’m still only vaguely aware of what a ‘noogie’ is but, according to Graham, Kade seems to give them out quite frequently,” Boulder added.

“Chief Burns told me that Kade has an eighteen by twenty-four inch poster of himself on the ceiling above his bed,” Chase said.

Heatwave made a grand gesture towards Chase with an expression that clearly said, ‘You see what I have to deal with here?’

“So…you _do_ like him?” Blades tested.

“He’s my partner,” Heatwave said.  And that was the answer to that.  There was just no other way of putting it.

“What did he give you?  Tell us,” Boulder said, fine with leaving Heatwave’s answer as it was. 

“ _Tenacity_.  _Self-confidence. Leadership._ ”  The trifecta that Heatwave had grown to identify as his personal pillars.  Kade had laid the foundation and then pile-driven those three deep into Heatwave for him to build his entire existence around.  And he wasn’t even aware of what he had built.  Like a child packing sand into buckets on the beach and then just going as high as he could before it all got washed away.

“Three!  You got three!” Blades said.  “Wow, you guys must’ve resonated perfectly!”

Heatwave almost hurt himself laughing.  Which, considering that they were in a virtual reality construct, was rather impressive.

“Well, how else would you get an extra core trait!” Blades asked, indignant.

“We would probably find the best answers in Doc Greene’s research,” Chase said.  “He’s the only one available who has compiled all relevant data.”

“We should ask him sometime,” Boulder said.

Heatwave grimaced a little but didn’t bother commenting.  Maybe it was some great mystery to everyone else why Heatwave got an extra trait but it didn’t matter much to him.  Or, more like, knowing wouldn’t make any difference to Heatwave one way or another.  Kade impressed upon him well.  Heatwave was glad for what he had.

Even if what he had was a good-for-nothing companion whose idea of a good time was using pickup lines on his own reflection.  Heatwave had no idea how he ever came to like the guy.

“Heatwave, you’re smiling!”

Heatwave glanced up to where Blades was beaming at him…blushing? Well, it didn’t make a lot of sense but virtual reality implied that they could manipulate their appearance however they liked.  They didn’t have to default to these avatars or even limit themselves to what their robotic bodies were capable of.  Blades seemed to be comfortable with human mannerisms.  Blushing while he grinned seemed like it suited him, even if the blush was this fluorescent pink glow beneath soft white faceplates.  It looked right.

Heatwave reached out and rubbed Blades’ head between the finials.  The little copter gasped happily and let out a pleased purr, rotors fluttering.

“So are you,” Heatwave said and Blades nuzzled his face against his knees until only his smiling optics could be seen.

* * *

 Heatwave came back to himself realizing that he was upright, cradled in Dock One and not, in fact, buried gently beneath a snuggled pile of bots who were all trying to ‘sleep’ after Heatwave had told them about what dreaming was like with Kade still synchronized with him.  Maybe if he asked Doc Greene, the next program update they could have could be a dreaming simulator.  Perhaps there’d be a way to translate the defragmentation process into a visual feed. 

The Virtual Reality had been forcibly disengaged.  Stasis would be in an hour and Doc wanted some debriefing interviews.  Heatwave went first and brought up his desire for a dreamstate.  And just as Doc pulled away from the docking computer, [Kade came sauntering up in full flight gear with his helmet tucked under his arm](https://40.media.tumblr.com/83aca706c86a7db997d71e69d800b8c2/tumblr_nst1hpm1Pc1qldo82o1_1280.png) and that characteristic smirk on his face.

“Kade Burns,” Doc Greene greeted him as they passed.

“Hey Doc.  Big Guy cooperating alright?” Kade asked.  From where he stood in the dock, Heatwave narrowed his optics.

“He always does,” Doc said with an easy grin.  “What about you? Are you going to turn off my datafeeds at any point in the future?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Doc.  Not after the dressing-down I got from Baranova.  Sheesh….”

Doc Greene chuckled.

“Then I will assume she did her best job of reminding you just how important that data is to all of us.”

“Just short of a ruler-thwack to the knuckles.  I’ll quit it for good, Doc, scout’s honor.”  Kade gave him a little salute then continued on to the lift so he could climb into Heatwave’s cockpit.

Heatwave was always conscious of every movement Kade made when they were in contact, even if they hadn’t synchronized yet. Humans generated a very specific heat signature and Heatwave would keep all of his internal cameras focused on his pilot and companion whenever he climbed aboard.  He always seemed to have that shit-eating grin plastered to his face like there was some joke he was waiting to deliver the punchline to. 

The cockpit sealed and Heatwave watched Kade pull his helmet on after a pointed wink to the anterior camera right above the windshield HUD. 

Super witty punchline there, Kade.  Heatwave rolled his optics and then pressed the tap forward against the guiding port at the back of Kade’s helmet.

The helmet and flightsuit added a laundry list of commands that Heatwave could engage independently and directly affect Kade’s biological processes, some of which could save his life in emergency situations.  Like a built-in defibrillator and adrenal injectors. Likewise, it turned Kade into a living circuit board and command prompt who could reboot and recalibrate Heatwave’s systems and delegate self-repair in a pinch. 

Plus the suit made him look like a smokin’ hot babe.  Direct quote from Kade Burns, Proud Narcissist.  Not at all endorsed by Heatwave, Not Giving a Shit.

The tap connected, the synchronization harmonized and there was Kade smiling at Heatwave through only a hot flutter in Heatwave’s spark and a conceptualization of a proffered fistbump.

“New program everything you wanted?” Kade asked him in greeting.

 _It was enjoyable.  I’m looking forward to when we get to do it again._   

Heatwave listened to the P.A. announce that Dock One locks were disengaging.

_Where are we headed?_

“They just wanna walk you around since we didn’t get to go for recon today.  Makin’ sure your knees aren’t rusting up or whatever.”

_Just a lap around the island, then._

“You got it, Big Guy.  Take your time.  Stasis is in forty-five but Dani’s doing clock-in for us so we can be back whenever.”

The hangar opened.  Heatwave felt Kade’s armored hands wrap around the joysticks and the two of them engaged.  Forward movement.  Together they left the darkness of the hangar to be bathed in the cascades of starlight and moonglow that surrounded the ocean waters of Griffin Rock.  Heatwave waded along the shallows, the waves splashing up against his calves while Kade remembered the exact sensation against his skin: the neurons echoing their memory into Heatwave’s consciousness.  Sand between toes, the stickiness of salt water on a hot day, fading sunburn, and the scent of SPF 30 clinging to him.

Heatwave meandered at a sedate pace and let Kade see the stars stretching out endlessly above them.

 _I didn’t give much thought to your offer from earlier_ , Heatwave told him as they walked.

There was a rapidfire of confusion, understanding, apprehension, frustration, defensiveness and then embarrassment and Heatwave only caught each of them because that particular combination had passed through his cognition enough times to be a familiar song. 

“Doesn’t matter to me, bro,” Kade said as casually as he might.  Heatwave pushed right through it and shoved the genuine feeling of Kade’s uncertainty at him as evidence.  “Alright, alright, what do you want from me, huh?”

_Just be honest with me, Kade.  If you front with everyone else in your life, whatever.  Not here.  It’s a waste of my time and yours._

Begrudging acceptance was part chilly and part bitter and Heatwave found himself tempering it with an equivalent to elbowing Kade in the side.

 _It’s just me,_ he said to him.

“Just wondering if it was a good idea to even bring it up with you or if I just like shoved my entire foot in my mouth by being an impulsive fuckhead.”

_Whoa, whoa, is the world ending? What are these words leaving your mouth?_

“Please, Heatwave, rub it in a little more.  Try some salt, it’ll sting more.”

_Kade, you are an asshole through and through but, you know, even I can acknowledge that there’s more to you than just that.  Just wondering what’s got you so shook up that you’re admitting your faults so blatantly._

Kade sighed and it was like something soft nestling against Heatwave’s spark.  So small and so warm.

“Dude, there’s like some serious morality that goes hand in hand with sex stuff, a’right?  And you’re not…human. And then there’s all this shit about like….  Fuck, I dunno, you’re what, six years old, technically?”

Heatwave’s face plates furrowed and he rolled his optics again.

_You’re right, I’m not human.  Which means things like age of consent don’t apply._

“So you _did_ think about it more!”

_I did some light research on the subject years ago, Kade, I could figure out what you were getting at easily enough._

Kades hands were nervously gripping the joysticks, heartrate picking up in odd stutters.

“If you didn’t think about it then why bother saying anything.”

_Because you were wondering.  I could feel it._

“Welp.  Wondering done.  Thanks for filling me in.”

_I want to try it._

It was weird, when one of them called for a halt while the other was still determined to move forward.  Heatwave let himself stop easily enough.  Beneath him, the waves hissed and roared and drew him further towards the horizon even though each pede was planted firmly in the sand. Childhood memories of being buried in the sand…collecting periwinkles and hermit crabs in a bucket….

“Try what,” Kade said as if the question was just scripted.  And it was.  Heatwave gave him a mental jostle.

_If you’ve rescinded your offer, then nevermind._

In silence they walked again.  And continued along the whole island’s perimeter until they were back at the hangar.  The whole trek dragged along Kade’s warring thoughts and Heatwave floated his resolve to let Kade take the decision into his own hands from there.  He’d said he was willing.  Kade had to be willing too.  Whatever he wanted.  It was all just a silly, stupid thing anyway.  Heatwave would never need to know what an orgasm felt like. Nor had he really ever cared to know. 

Fun thing about a dare was always just following through with it for its own sake.

Heatwave moved himself back into Dock One and fitted his frame into the cradle while it engaged its locks.

“Welcome home, guys,” Dani commed into their frequency.  “You’re cleared to disengage and commence stasis when you’re ready.  See you tomorrow.”

“Night sis,” Kade said before she clicked out.

 _See you tomorrow then, Kade_ , Heatwave said as he began disengaging the tap.  There was a burst of hesitancy that faded away in the next second.  The tap retracted; the harmony faded from the melody and Heatwave was alone in himself again, though Kade remained in the pilot’s seat still.  Heatwave focused the cameras on him as the helmet came off.  There was a little blood running down the back of Kade’s neck, sticking to the sweaty strands of copper colored hair.

 _‘Go get your port checked out tomorrow; you’re bleeding,’_ Heatwave scrolled the Sikari Code across his windshield HUD with a soft chirp to get Kade’s attention.  He focused his camera on those bright blue eyes flicking over the code to comprehend.  The weak smile and softness in Kade’s gaze did something stupid to the bot’s spark.

“See ya tomorrow, Big Guy,” Kade murmured.  He fistbumped the dash console before hopping onto the lift.  The last thing Heatwave saw before the stasis commands were entered was Kade picking up the cup of hot coffee that someone had left for him on the docking computer.  Kade took a sip and stood there, watching as Heatwave went into stasis, not leaving until the process was complete and Dock One was bathed in the pale blue of the standby indicator lights.

* * *

 “Sex?” Boulder asked as he sat with Heatwave in the VR space.  It was the hangar again today.  Offside, Blades was showing Chase a series of videos from YouTube in an effort to get him to laugh.  Heatwave wasn’t quite sure how effective the regimen would be.

“Ever thought about it?” Heatwave continued his conversation. 

“Hmm.  Can’t say I have.  We don’t really have a reason to, do we?”

“That’s what I was thinking.  But we don’t really have a reason to think about _The Matrix_ or how to properly take care of orchids, do we?”

“I see what you mean,” Boulder said, nodding a little.  “Guess it’s just not something that’s really resonated with us.”

“Given the opportunity, would you want to know what it was like?” Heatwave asked.

“Sure,” Boulder said with an easy smile.  “Why not?  This world is full of amazing things to learn about and experience.  Supposedly, sexual ecstasy is one of the most sought-after sensations among the human race.  There’s gotta be a reason for that can’t be explained just with elevated endorphin readouts and sudden bursts of biochemicals.  Feeling it for myself would probably help close some of the gaps in my understanding.”

“So you’d do it just to learn more about it,” Heatwave said.

“Well, that’d be the more prominent reason.  If you’ve ever read particular texts about human culture, lots of them give a very personal significance to sex and the person the experience is shared with.  Ideally, you experience sex with someone with whom you feel strong feelings of trust and love and affection.”

Heatwave blinked.  And then blinked again.

Fuck, that must be why Kade was suddenly so hesitant about his offer.  Other than the reasons he had offered, of course.  In the context of just offering a biological experience, it wasn’t that significant of a proposition.  But once Kade had cleared the caffeine-crazy out of his system and thought about it again, he must’ve realized that it wouldn’t make sense to share such a thing with Heatwave.  Sure, there was _trust,_ but love?  Affection?  Well, maybe affection but it wasn’t anything like the affection that was genuine and simple to understand.  The kind that Heatwave felt for his family here.  Blades had fallen out of his conjured chair laughing at the vidscreen.  Chase just frowned puzzlingly at it and didn’t notice Heatwave smiling at the both of them.

“You’re thinking pretty hard there, Heatwave,” Boulder said gently.

“Lots to think about, I guess.  Or maybe I should just leave it.  Subject doesn’t really matter to us in the end, does it?”

“Not at the moment,” Boulder said with an easy smile.  “We’re not sex-capable.  Not in the ways that humans or other animals are anyway.  Our bodies our metal, our minds are data and logistical programming.  Sex isn’t necessary for our survival like it is for the many species of this planet.  So, other than just the fascinations of what-ifs, there’s not much of a reason to think about it.”

Heatwave hummed gently and gave a little nod.  Boulder was right.  And it made sense to hear it put like that.

Unfortunately, it didn’t do anything to put Heatwave off of Kade’s wild and poorly thought-out suggestion.

“What-ifs can be fun in their own way, though,” Boulder added.  “Am I ever glad that we’re capable of imagination.  It’s one of the best things about being alive.  The chance to discover, to learn and explore, to think about possibilities and do what we’ve never done before.  Every day our horizons broaden beyond what we’ve known before.  We’re loved here.  They take care of us and want to watch us grow.  And we have each other.  We’re the first of our kind and we’ll never have to be alone.”

Boulder reached out his hand and Heatwave caught it easily, giving it a squeeze.

“I’ll look after everyone,” he said, smiling back when Boulder grinned at him.  “Keep us all together.”

“We all believe in you, Heatwave,” Boulder told him.  “You’ve always done right by us.  But you don’t have to feel that if you fail you’ll be letting us down.  We’re all a team, remember?”

 Heatwave smirked.

“You got my back,” he said.

“We got your back,” Boulder agreed.

Outside feeds pinged at Heatwave’s processor and he withdrew his awareness from the VR space to watch as Kade shuffled through the thoroughly darkened hangar.  Bare feet again.  Wearing a hoodie with his old high school’s mascot and Iron Man pajama bottoms.

“Looks like I got a visitor,” Heatwave said as he retreated back to the VR space.  “I’ll catch you guys later?”

“We’ll be here if we’re not busy,” Boulder said.

“Bye Heatwave!  Tell Kade we said hi!” Blades called.

“Please remind him to adhere to all the proper protocols during his time in the neural link,” Chase said.

“I’ll tell him but that’s no guarantee that he’ll actually do it,” Heatwave said.  He gave them all a wave goodbye and pulled himself back into his chassis just in time to see Kade take the lift up to his cockpit.

He brought his coffee mug with him this time.  Only there wasn’t coffee in it, it was considerably lighter.

 _‘What’s in your cup?’_ Heatwave scrolled the question across the windshield HUD and focused his cameras on Kade taking a sip while he read.

“It’s uh…,” Kade started and then stared down into his cup, which wasn’t even steaming.  “When I was a kid, dad used to make me ‘cappuccinos’ with the leftover decaf from his coffee pot.  It’s really just a piss-poor amount of coffee with milk and sugar in it but….  I dunno, there wasn’t much left in the pot and I didn’t feel like making more so I just…did this.”

 _‘It’s coffee flavored milk, is what you’re saying,’_ Heatwave wrote, his grin more of an internal sensation than anything that he expressed on his faceplates.

“Yeah, pretty much.  Reminds me of being a kid.”

 _‘You like it sweet, don’t you.’_  Heatwave watched Kade’s eyes narrow over the rim of his mug. _‘You say you take it black but you actually put a bunch of sugar and no milk so everyone will just think you like it bitter.’_

“What are you trying to say,” Kade muttered into his coffeemilk.

_‘That you front a lot because you feel like you’re supposed to be putting up some image even though you really don’t have to.’_

Heatwave watched Kade set the mug to the side and then bring his feet up into the seat and reread the code on the screen.

“Sure I have to,” Kade said, flicking the console a little.  “I’m the big brother, the firstborn son.  I gotta be strong for my family.  Be confident in what I do and not show weakness.”

_‘How is putting sugar in your coffee a weakness, exactly?’_

“Dad takes it black.”

_‘You’re not Charles Burns.’_

“But wouldn’t it be better if I were more like him?” Kade insisted.  “You’re right, remember, Dad is the leader.  And you’re the leader of the bots, sure.  And one day I’ll be a leader too.  But no one’s gonna accept me as a leader if I don’t act like one.”

Heatwave would’ve bowled him over in frustration if they were actually linked.  The tap remained untouched, though.  Kade looked over at his mug and frowned at it, like he wanted to just leave it there even though there was a want in his blue eyes for another sweet sip.  Heatwave flashed the screen at him and the scrawled across it quickly.

_‘You’re not a leader because of what you deny yourself.  Adhering to everyone else’s expectations doesn’t make you strong.  It makes you boring.  What happened to Kade Burns who knew he was hot shit, leader material, and didn’t let anyone forget it? You can be hot shit and still put cream in your stupid coffee, you idiot.’_

“It’s not just the fucking coffee, Heatwave,” Kade snapped, rubbing his face, exasperated.  “You wouldn’t get it, you’re not human, you can be and like anything because you’re a robot and nobody cares.  Nobody’s going to judge you because they’re going to be happy with however you turn out so long as you don’t go all GLaDOS on them.”

 _‘Why should it be any different for you?’_ Heatwave had demanded halfway through Kade’s rant.

“It shouldn’t! It just is!”

Heatwave wasn’t even in synch with Kade but all the same he could feel the cold impact of anguish in his chassis.  Where Kade sat in the pilot seat, he was all curled up with his arms around his legs and his forehead against his knees.  Small.  His hair all mussed up and fingers rubbing at the fabric of his stupid superhero pajama pants while his ‘cappuccino’ grew colder where it was abandoned on the console.  Heatwave had all the cameras focused on him and Kade just sat there, silent, guarded against the whole world. 

Despite all the discomfort and lingering anger, Heatwave told himself that Kade was safe here with him.  Like he always was.  There was no one in the world who could break in and take Kade away.  Heatwave had proven it before the whole world before and it remained true, even to that moment.

He lowered the tap and brought it forward until it nudged inoffensively against Kade’s shoulder.  Heatwave chimed the screen in an effort to get his attention.

_‘With me, be you.’_

* * *

 Kade’s initial reports on synchronization had his testimony describe the experience as ‘getting my soul ripped out of my nose.’  He hated it.  He hated that no repeated orientation exercises with his fully-integrated neural port ever completely prepared him for what it was like to surrender everything that you were to someone else, someone who didn’t even understand how to exist in a human body. Someone who wasn’t anything but a semblance of ‘intelligence’ and nothing else.  And then Kade rolled his eyes and grew a pair and just barricaded himself for hours in Heatwave's cockpit until they finally made their synchronization work.

Before that it had been a lot of charging ahead with no direction and Kade haphazardly doing what he thought would work while Heatwave shook his head in annoyance in the background of their link.  When Kade had actually stopped to work  _with_ Heatwave instead of try and solve him like a problem, the simplicity of the solution was dumbfounding.

Synchronizing got steadily easier after that.  And now, in the middle of the night with Kade staring up at those four coded words on the screen, the tap eased into his neural port and it was like there wasn’t even a change.  The only difference was that he was gradually warming.  Heatwave existed in Kade as easily as Kade could exist in him.  And when Heatwave reached for Kade’s mug (it was actually Cody’s; it had cartoon characters on the side) and brought it to Kade’s lips, they tasted the cooling coffee together.  Both brand new and timelessly familiar.  Sweet, either way.

 _This isn’t too bad,_ Heatwave said as he had another sip through Kade’s mouth, testing all of the fired neurons and meandering through the electrical responses in Kade’s brain.  _I can see why you like it.  You should drink it more often.  Share it with me._

Kade grinned and they finished off the mug before he had a chance to speak aloud his agreement.  Heatwave felt it anyway.  Kade was so easy to read.  He watched his pilot pull the visor down over his eyes and finally relax his posture to recline in the seat like he always would.

 _I’m serious_ , Heatwave went on to say as he wound all that he was through Kade’s every cell, _Be you when you’re here with me. Be the person you won’t be in front of everyone else.  I don’t get why you won’t but you could at least drop the act here.  The longer you keep it up, the more it’s pissing me off._

“It’s not gonna be something I can just drop overnight, Big Guy,” Kade said with some semblance of his stupid smirk coming back.

_I don’t care about that.  Just promise me you’ll start working up to it._

“A’right, a’right.  I promise.”  Heatwave felt blush filling his cheeks, the tips of his ears going hot. “Just remember that you asked for it. And you can’t make fun of me for anything.”

 _Oh I’ll make fun of you if it’s genuinely funny,_ Heatwave assured him.  _What I’m not going to do is tell you that you’re wrong or you should stop doing what makes you happy._

Tension bled out of the link like Kade was just letting it wash through his fingers, wiping it away from where it might’ve lingered on his palms.

“Sounds like a plan,” Kade said and sighed away the last bit of his apprehension.

_Don’t fall asleep now. If you’re going to dream again, disengage the tap first, I’m not up for any more subconscious dives anytime soon._

“Don’t worry about that, I’m not tired,” Kade said with a laugh.  “Just relaxing.”

_Glad to know that I only have to say it to you half a dozen times before you get it through your head to just be who you are when you’re here._

“Like I said, it’s not that easy.  Keep saying it, I’ll try to remember.”

_I will. I’ll noogie you if you forget._

For emphasis, Heatwave lifted Kade’s hand and dug the knuckles of it against Kade’s head.

“Ow, ow, okay, okay! I got it!  Jeez, if you’re gonna take control of my hands you could at least do something nice with them.”

 _Like what, pet you?_   Heatwave awkwardly pet Kade’s hand against his cheek and Kade leaned away from it as best he could.

“What am I, a dog?” Kade asked with a stupid grin on his face.

 _Should I scratch under your chin next?_ Heatwave offered.

“No, man, you’re just messing it up.  Here, come in deeper, I’ll show you what’s good.”

There was an unmistakable tremor in their synchronicity but Heatwave moved right over it and settled himself in Kade’s body.  Humans were so warm.  The bots had their own sort of warmth, but humans were full of a warmth all their own, one that was alluring and comfortable.  Heatwave had discussed it with his small family in their few conversations in the VR space.  Being pulled into their pilot’s body was the equivalent of a sustained embrace.  Blades kept calling it a ‘hug’.  Dani liked to hug him a lot, apparently.

Their eyes were closed because they didn’t need to see anything just to feel.  A single hand – trembling – touched fingertips to Heatwave’s neck and came to rest there.  A slow swipe against a freshly-shaven jawbone and then the caress continued down Heatwave’s throat.  The touch was so gentle and his skin was thin and sensitive.  Everything was so warm.

 _That does feel nice_ , Heatwave hummed through Kade’s nerves, focusing on the sense-plentiful tips of his fingers and the point where he could feel a thickly-thrumming pulse.  Kade swallowed under his hand and it wet Heatwave’s throat.  His mouth felt thick, full of his own tongue swiping along the inside of his lips and against his teeth.  _Kade?_

“Yeah, Heatwave?”  Kade’s voice wavered when he spoke aloud, barely above a whisper.

_You can stop if you want._

“I know.”

Heatwave felt Kade’s other hand follow after the first, both smoothing slowly down his chest, spreading out to grip his sides and rub at his hips.  Blood was rushing hot through him and a strange pressure began building at the base of his spine.  It was Kade’s heart that raced when he pulled his hoodie up as high as it would go while still having his sleeves on.  His chest felt chilled and when Kade smeared his fingers across his nipples they both gasped.  It was like something had hooked into Heatwave’s stomach and yanked it upwards.

_That’s…._

“Don’t talk,” Kade huffed out.  “I’m crazy for doing this…don’t say anything….”

  _Not crazy,_ Heatwave insisted, arching their spine so he could push up against Kade’s hands again.  _It’s just fine.  Just us._

Kade’s thumbs hooked into the waistband of his pants, his boxerbriefs, and he pushed them down around his thighs.  Heatwave did open their eyes and look down, seeing their erection jutting up hard from a thatch of copper curls.  Somehow completely unexpected and completely surprising for a multitude of reasons.  Without even thinking Heatwave reached and wrapped careful fingers around it.  Kade cried out and Heatwave drew their next breath hard.  He let go and took Kade’s hands for himself, pushing his clothes off the rest of the way.  One fraction of himself retreated to open the video feeds and see from every angle as he spread Kade’s legs over the arms of the seat and rubbed thorough hands between his pilot’s thighs.

“Heatwave,” Kade whimpered, unsure.  He tapped into the feed Heatwave was focused on: a zoomed-in frame of Kade’s erection, now gently dripping pre along the length.

 _I got you…. I’m learning. If you don’t want it, say so and I’ll stop._  He gripped full handfuls of Kade’s inner thighs and kneaded, enjoying the feeling of Kade’s hips bucking upwards in reaction.  _I feel it through you and it’s like nothing ever…._

“Heatwave,” Kade said again, the syllables drawn out in a needy noise and Kade moved one of his hands up to his mouth, fingers slipping between his lips.  Heatwave didn’t quite understand the fixation that humans had with their mouths but now he was starting to get it.  Kade’s tongue licked and stroked along his fingertips, lips unbelievably soft against his skin.  Everything was making his head empty and heavy as ever, something hot and tight coiled between his hips.

His heartbeat was so loud and heavy; it throbbed through his whole body and his erection in particular, hips undulating in an effort to dampen the sensation.  Or maybe it was to feel it even deeper.  Kade suckled on his fingers, moaning breathlessly around them.  And Heatwave stroked his hand against the arcs of defined muscle in Kade’s thighs, along articulations of hip bones and traced between the lines of his abs, petting against the hair at the base of his cock.  Kade whimpered; his dick twitched and made a mess on his fingers.

_Sticky…._

“Nnhnnn…!”

Heatwave pressed into Kade’s memories and found him sprawled on his computer chair, pants on the floor with his cock in his hand.

_Like this…._

Four fingers wrapped around the shaft, thumb rubbing the ridge right under the head, with steady, constant pulls.  Kade gasped and released the digits he’d been mouthing.  Heatwave took that hand and slipped it down to join the other, pulling lightly at Kade’s balls.

“Heatwave! Fuck, fuck, f-fuhhh…ahh!”

Strange….  There was heat suddenly coursing back and forth along Heatwave’s – Kade’s – body that the bot could recognize as being a reaction all his own.  His cameras focused again and he set the feed to record.

“Oh, g-god….”

_I think I like it, your voice getting messed up like that._

His chest heaved hard with the effort it took just to breathe.  He could see, through the cameras, in the soft glow of the HUD lights and console controls, how flushed his skin was and sheened just lightly with sweat.  Heatwave had never been entirely sure if he possessed a concept of beauty as humans would view it.  But he decided in that moment that there was something beautiful about this.  About Kade.  About himself and himself with Kade and in Kade and Kade in him.

“What are…what are you even th-thinking?” Kade asked, thrusting his hips upwards.  The distraction was dizzying as Heatwave nestled in close to Kade’s mind.  Felt like nothing else to just be swept up in the physical pleasures that they were trading with each other.  In every moment, they blended together, alternating between who was who and who was doing what.  In the end, it was just them and Kade’s body with Heatwave inhabiting it deeply, writhing in the pilot’s seat and spilling precum all over his fingers and stomach.

 _What’s happening?_ Heatwave asked him as it became harder and harder for Kade to keep his eyes open.  Camera feeds still filtered in clear as day.  Heatwave’s fingers rubbed and pressed against the soft bit of skin just above Kade’s hole and they shuddered hard together.

“Gonna cum,” Kade forced out before catching his bottom lip between his teeth and hissing in desperate pleasure.

 _It’ll feel good, right?_ Heatwave asked him, only the slightest bit wary.  The rest of him was trusting in Kade’s overwhelming feelings of delight and desire.

“S-so good, so good, so, so g-good, mnh, Heatwave…!”

_Kade….  Ahh!_

Heatwave had no way of knowing how many orgasms Kade had before that night.  But it was Heatwave’s first.  And Kade’s first, by extension.

Back bowed up, taught and trembling, they shouted in pleasure, cum shooting up their chest in three shuddering spurts.  The shocks wracked their body, making them shake apart in the seat, limbs twitching and shifting out of their control.  The fluctuations coursed hard into Heatwave’s robotic chassis and then surged right back into familiar flesh as the armor shuddered noticeably around them.  There was drool on their chin and everything felt warm and wet and the slightest bit sticky.

There was nothing else, nothing but the heat and their voice and their body and their sex shaking every single muscle, clenching them down and releasing again rapidly.  Heatwave lost himself and lost Kade and didn’t come back until he realized they were still breathing.  One breath and one body and two shaking, wet hands stroking up and down a still-trembling stomach.

_When does it stop feeling like I can’t control myself?_

Kade was laughing, only he couldn’t sustain it easily.  He was breathless and flushed and his legs were still splayed open, hoodie lopsided above his rosy chest.

“You could just back out if you wanna get back to normal,” he breathed.

_Don’t really feel like it._

“Then just shut up and enjoy the afterglow, you jerk.”

Heatwave laughed with Kade’s mouth and wrapped him up in his own arms, shifting the seat cushions to hug those weakened muscles.  The air circulated in cool and Kade slouched sideways with a dumb grin on his face, licking his bitten-red lips with his eyes closed behind the visor.  Heatwave waited until the endorphins died away and Kade started grimacing as he realized his cum was drying tacky on his skin.  Only then did Heatwave review the datafeeds of the past hour and substitute the entire block of time with a copy of the numbers from a few nights ago.

Maybe this one point of development, Heatwave wasn’t quite comfortable with sharing.  Kade pulled out the first aid kid from under the seat and wiped himself off with antiseptic towlettes before dressing himself properly.  He curled up in the seat and pulled up YouTube and queued a compilation video from their favorite Let's Players.  Silence stuck around while they watched until they were both laughing gently and Kade didn’t even notice how Heatwave was stroking his thumb against the one inch of bare skin at his hip.

Or if he did notice, he didn’t seem to mind at all.


End file.
